-----Half-light, purblind streams where moonlight washes over trees / Lustred with a glow, as if from pearls upon the throat Where the night's kiss lights upon her; rose's rhapsodies, / Warm as oils, imbue this bliss-fed hour with trembling note "Where-? And who-?" Her breath's unspoken soul is light's perdueThat, hidden, seeks the unseen with a sigh… "Ah, L'inconnu!"

Very rich writing style, Almirena. And I love the flavor of high society murders you added to Dread Hill House. After what I wrote, the closed kind of murder with the usual suspects, this is my favorite kind of murder.

Poor lordling you were engaged to! Will this tie in with this case, I wonder. And in what period are you placing the story?

I'm very interested! Please continue! It's good not to know what happens next.

@Gijs - thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy the story, and let me know if you want to appear in the story. (Your twin brother will NOT be appearing!)

@Marion - that's a wonderful and flattering comment! I particularly admire Oscar Wilde - his use of adjectives and colour is tremendous. I can never read his fairy tales without being incredibly moved.

@Krss - thank you! Rich writing style is good - I wanted this to be very atmospheric and to have a strong poetic element, because it will be extremely important in the case itself.

Roderick's murder is unlikely to be directly related to the doings at Dread Hill House, but you may get to find out why he was murdered. But I will probably do this very subtly.

The period? I really wanted to make this early 20s... but I couldn't resist the computer analogy and so it's late 90s. For now. But be warned - this isn't as clear and simple as it seems.

@ everyone - let me know if you want to appear in the story.

EDIT: @gabnic - Thank you for reading and enjoying it so far. An English house near Oxford - what could be a better setting for a mystery? I simply could not resist...

(Edited by Almirena at 3:07 am on Oct. 21, 2006)

-----Half-light, purblind streams where moonlight washes over trees / Lustred with a glow, as if from pearls upon the throat Where the night's kiss lights upon her; rose's rhapsodies, / Warm as oils, imbue this bliss-fed hour with trembling note "Where-? And who-?" Her breath's unspoken soul is light's perdueThat, hidden, seeks the unseen with a sigh… "Ah, L'inconnu!"

And the mystery is fascinating! So many incongruous details. *shudders about the eyes being removed before death* I am really curious to see this unfold. Maybe it's the serial killing case that's connected? Anyway, I like the way they speak.. And you are using a different version of DHH than me, which is good, because it'll be surprising.

Yes, this Dread Hill House is going to be somewhat different in layout, so that the sense will be of a different location even though we used the same house.

One Krss character - check. I have a very interesting role for you...

-----Half-light, purblind streams where moonlight washes over trees / Lustred with a glow, as if from pearls upon the throat Where the night's kiss lights upon her; rose's rhapsodies, / Warm as oils, imbue this bliss-fed hour with trembling note "Where-? And who-?" Her breath's unspoken soul is light's perdueThat, hidden, seeks the unseen with a sigh… "Ah, L'inconnu!"

-----Half-light, purblind streams where moonlight washes over trees / Lustred with a glow, as if from pearls upon the throat Where the night's kiss lights upon her; rose's rhapsodies, / Warm as oils, imbue this bliss-fed hour with trembling note "Where-? And who-?" Her breath's unspoken soul is light's perdueThat, hidden, seeks the unseen with a sigh… "Ah, L'inconnu!"

Your character, Krss, will be even more fun to write than Gabnic. *thinks* Or maybe not. Gabnic's was enormous fun to create.

And Gijs, your time will come. *rubs hands in plotting glee*

-----Half-light, purblind streams where moonlight washes over trees / Lustred with a glow, as if from pearls upon the throat Where the night's kiss lights upon her; rose's rhapsodies, / Warm as oils, imbue this bliss-fed hour with trembling note "Where-? And who-?" Her breath's unspoken soul is light's perdueThat, hidden, seeks the unseen with a sigh… "Ah, L'inconnu!"

This is the first time I've used my online name for a character that doesn't really resemble me - oh, I suppose in a few things she does, but mostly she's very much her own person, a separate and completely invented being. I'm very glad you like her - I hope those insecurities and her shyness don't end up becoming irritating.

Hehe. Gabnic's indeed very well written.

Thank you - he is a truly interesting character, and I'm glad you like the way I wrote him.

Looks like Almirena is serving us a first-quality mystery story, in a triumph of style.

Oh, you flatterer...! You always know the right thing to say, and you say it so nicely. I was aiming for a nice literary style that is also accessible - I want it to read well (like a thriller) AND be of a high literary standard, almost poetic. So far *crosses fingers* I think it's working... But we'll see. This could be tricky to maintain - I hope not...

Ah, and thank you for lending me your name. You are going to LOVE your character, I hope!

So...

Two characters in, two to go. Gijs and Santi will be appearing shortly, probably within the next two instalments.

-----Half-light, purblind streams where moonlight washes over trees / Lustred with a glow, as if from pearls upon the throat Where the night's kiss lights upon her; rose's rhapsodies, / Warm as oils, imbue this bliss-fed hour with trembling note "Where-? And who-?" Her breath's unspoken soul is light's perdueThat, hidden, seeks the unseen with a sigh… "Ah, L'inconnu!"